A CAPTAIN’S knock from Suryakumar Yadav, and a clinical bowling performance saw India hammer South Africa by 106 runs in the third T20I at the Wanderers, Johannesburg on Thursday.
The result meant that the T20I series ended at 1-1 after the opening game was washed out due to incessant rain. India reached 201 for seven after being sent in, then bowled out South Africa for 95 in 13.5 overs.

The contrasting conditions of the day-night game were on display as India piled on the runs during the sunny evening, and once the lights took effect, there was enough movement for the new-ball bowlers, apart from the turn that the spinners extracted. Regular wickets meant that South Africa were never in the chase.

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill got the visitors off to a flier with a flurry of boundaries in the first two overs. Debutant Nandre Burger started on an erratic note, while Markram’s decision to share the new ball didn’t begin well either. India had gotten the perfect start to the innings in terms of momentum.

In his first game of the series, Keshav Maharaj made an instant impression. He got Shubman Gill, LBW, although the batter was unlucky, with ball tracking showing it to be a missing leg stump. Strangely, Gill, who is trigger-happy when it comes to taking reviews, didn’t opt for one. Tilak Varma fell the very next ball, as his attempts to go downtown only resulted in a miscue to mid-off. If India had landed the opening punch, South Africa had truly given an apt riposte.

India were in need of a partnership to turn things around; the duo provided just that. Jaiswal continued to bat with high intent, and found the boundaries, while his captain took a backseat after an initial flurry. However, once he got his eye in, Suryakumar was also back to his menacing best as he plundered the bowling at will. The 13th over of the innings, bowled by Andile Phehlukwayo, went for a whopping 23 runs, and it was the kind of momentum the Indian skipper was seeking to hit top gear.

The back end of India’s innings was solely about their skipper’s decimation of the bowling attack in his trademark fashion. Jaiswal fell in the bid to up the ante, but that only spurred his partner to go harder. With the temptingly short square boundaries at the Wanderers, Suryakumar peppered them at will, and in the process, brought up a record-equalling fourth century in T20Is. As is the case with any notable innings that he produces, this, too, was an exhibition of jaw-dropping stroke-play and power-hitting.

Under lights, the Wanderers pitch looked a different demon from the one when India were batting.

Perhaps, it was the pressure of a big chase, and the inability to start briskly, but both openers were guilty of gifting their wickets away. Breetzke went for a loose cut with no room on offer and dragged it onto the stumps, while Hendricks took on Siraj’s arm with a quick single to mid-on, only to be found short with a direct hit. South Africa needed a solid platform to launch their chase, but instead got a shaky beginning.

The one thing that was constant in both innings was the turn on offer for the spinners. It wasn’t extravagant, but the variable bounce made it a tough task, especially for South Africa’s batters, who were tied down by Ravindra Jadeja’s accuracy and Kuldeep Yadav’s guile. Wickets fell regularly, and within no time, the game was a no contest. The wrist spinner eventually helped himself to a five-wicket haul, as South Africa’s batters imploded in sensational fashion. (Cricbuzz)